


ride or die

by tsuluio



Series: everybody talks - crackship au [1]
Category: Splatoon
Genre: F/M, First Meetings, Fluff, High School AU, Romeo and Juliet References, Slow Burn, crackship lets go, lot of cliche and cringe, maybe angst later, nsfw jokes ig?? more like references, rated T for bad words n implied nsfw
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-23
Updated: 2019-10-11
Packaged: 2020-07-12 05:14:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19940782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tsuluio/pseuds/tsuluio
Summary: She thinks he’s a jerk who plays girls to get what he wants. He thinks she’s a suck-up nerd. There’s no way in anyone’s mind that they’d end up together, but thanks to an assigned tutoring session and a couple of coincidental circumstances, it seems at least somewhat possible.





	1. ouch

**Author's Note:**

  * For [HnngWorthy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HnngWorthy/gifts).



> I’m actually not going to really write this that much but my friend requested for the first chapter to be posted so here y’all go. 
> 
> Welcome to the crackship everyone

7:34 in the morning and Blazer is late. Again. 

She would blame it on her brother, always tripping her up as she tries to get ready, but her teacher won’t take that as an answer. She’s the class president for cod’s sake! She has to make good on her reputation. Thankfully, the bus is leaving right as she gets there and she hops on as it pulls away from the stop. 

Good. She has five minutes to think, to plan this out. 

She’ll get to school around 7:40 which gives her only two minutes to get to her locker, drop off her books, swap out her notebook, and get to class. Mentally visualizing the school campus in her mind, she’s running as soon as the bus doors slide open. 

Left. Right. Left. Another left and she crashes headon into someone as she rounds the corner. Books and papers spill from her arms and land around her. Her arm is stinging from smacking against the tiled floor and she lays there for a moment, stunned. 

It takes only two seconds for her to remember she’s late. Body check. Arms? Still there. Legs? Not bleeding. Head? Spinning a little, but she’ll be fine. She sits up slowly to try to stave off the dizziness and sees the person she just ran into. 

It’s Scuba. Resident party animal, Aloha’s number two, and a player. She doesn’t hate him; she can’t hate anyone, as Bamboo had claimed it was due to her soft heart. But he’s on the borderline of dislike because honestly, she can’t think of anyone, besides Aloha himself, who twists girls’ hearts around and slacks off so much, he’d win an award for it. 

There’s blue on the ground and she panics briefly, rechecking herself for any punctures or cuts, before realizing it’s coming from him. 

Her nice girl instinct kicks in then, and she’s hovering above him anxiously. “Oh my cod, are you okay?”

Scuba winces once, fingers previously holding his nose coming away stained in blood, before he grins at her. “Yeah. I’ll be fine. Are _you_ okay?”

“I’m—“

She trails off, stutters, before trying again. She just gave him a freaking bloody nose. Scuba, of all people. It could be worse, she supposes, but the impact of it hits her. Of course she’d be okay! She’s fine. She’s fine. Or rather, she would be fine if Scuba didn’t stop staring at her. 

“I’m fine.”

_You spent literally ten minutes trying to tell him you’re fine?_

She mentally grimaces at herself, but Scuba doesn’t seem to notice the delayed response. “Okay, cool.”

He stands without using his hands to push himself up and Blazer would think it impressive if she didn’t think he was actually trying to show off for her. She thinks he’s about to walk off but he instead bends down again and starts gathering her stuff for her. That startles her into action as she quickly sweeps the rest of her possessions off the ground, all too aware of the bell ringing in the distance. 

“Shit. That’s the bell.” Scuba tilts his head slightly, amusement flickering across his face for her cussing, but says nothing as he hands the books over to her. 

“You’d better go then.”

“Don’t you have class too?” She’s vaguely certain they share first period. And a few other classes, now that she thinks of it. He’s rarely in attendance anyway. She doesn’t even know why she asked. 

_Congrats on the conversation, girl, now you’re going to be late._

“Nah.” He gives her an easy smile. It must win over lots of girls, she’s sure, but it won’t work on her. He’s a bit cuter when he smiles, but will she ever admit it? No. Not when his ego is already through the roof of the school. “‘Loha wants us to meet out today.”

Aloha. Of course. The man himself appears in the hallway behind Scuba, a wide grin on his face. 

“Yo, Scuba!”

The Inkling in question spins to face his best friend. “Hey ‘Loha! Where’re the girls?”

“On their way,” Aloha answers, before squinting. “Man, what happened to you? You look like you just ran facefirst into a wall.”

Scuba glances over his shoulder at Blazer briefly before turning back to Aloha. “You could say that.”

“Anyway, stop hanging around, we gotta go,” Aloha stops when he sees Blazer, offering her an glittering smile. She ignores him and he chuckles, dropping the act. “Aren’t you supposed to be in class, Blazer?”

She can’t help her hearts’ slight flutter at him using her name but then again, it was just his charm. All four of the main popular group — Aloha, Scuba, Octoglasses, and Straw — had a way with everyone that caused them all to favor them. Apparently Blazer isn’t set apart from that, as her hearts jump again when Scuba gestures to the hallway. “Yeah, man, you’re almost three minutes late. You need an escort?”

Why the shell is she so tempted to say yes? She’s never been late before and she doesn’t want to be alone when she walks in that door. But this is Scuba. The same Scuba who she’s seen at least five girls run away from him crying of heartbreak. The same Scuba who’s watching her expectantly, waiting for a response. 

“No.”

She walks off as stiffly as could be imagined. 

—

She enters her classroom five minutes late and every head turns to face her as she walks in through the door. She catches her friend, Bamboo, in staring at her and at the look of concern she receives, she shakes her head slightly. 

_Not now._

“Miss Blazer,” her teacher says loudly. “So glad you could join us. You’re just on time too, because I need to talk to you outside for a bit.”

A slight hush runs through the class. Blazer, top student, class president, being called outside? That was equal to a death sentence. 

She quietly follows the teacher back outside, still clutching her books. They’re digging into her arms, and she’s pretty sure they’ve cramped by now. 

She waits for the teacher to start telling her off for being late, but the words that eventually come out of her superior isn’t what she expected. 

“I’m sure you’ve heard of the new tutor system set up today?”

Blazer blinks. What now? Of course she’s heard of it. It’s been everywhere as of late, and being class president required her to be aware of these things. “Yes,” she says slowly, and is surprised again by her teacher’s smile. 

“Good. I think that since you’re incredibly invested in this school and your grades are impossibly high, you might do well as a tutor, don’t you think?”

Well. She’s definitely been thinking of doing it. But she’s had a lot on her plate lately and she isn’t sure if she can handle more than one student. She tells her teacher exactly that. 

“Oh, don’t worry,” her teacher says quickly. “I already have someone for you to tutor. It’s just a matter of whether you’re up to it.”

Did they actually expect her to disagree? She loves helping people. Absolutely _loves_. 

Blazer just nods and matches her teacher’s smile. “Yeah. I’m totally up for it.” 

Her teacher practically beams at her. “Perfect. You may go back to class now.”

Blazer renters her classroom and slides into her seat next to Bamboo, her friend wasting no time in leaning over to whisper, “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah,” she murmurs back, flexing her arms to ease the cramps. She needs to stop holding her books so tightly. “She just wanted me to tutor someone.”

“Who?”

“I don’t know.” Blazer turns to face the teacher as she walks to the front of the classroom, presentation flickering onto the screen before them. 

She forgets about the tutoring, about Scuba, about everything until sixth period. 

—

Blazer gets called out of sixth period, and her first thought is that it probably has something to do with the tutoring offer. 

She’s right. 

She’s directed to at least three different teachers before one finally points her to the library. 

Her first period teacher is there, along with — Blazer starts with horror — Scuba. He actually looks somewhat uncomfortable, and his height in comparison to the teacher is almost comical. Blazer’s pretty sure that even if her teacher decided to wear heels, she’d only come up to Scuba’s neck. Her teacher spots her first. 

“Miss Blazer.”

“Y-yeah?” She hurries over as quickly as she can. 

“You know Scuba, correct?” Blazer instinctively looks up at the pink Inkling; he avoids her gaze. 

“Yes, ma’am.”

“You’re going to be tutoring him for the remainder of the school year.”

Before either can say a word in protest, their teacher glides out of the library, leaving the two of them in awkward silence. 


	2. first session

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They have their first tutor session together and it isn’t half bad in the end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i told myself to focus on one fic at a time but i can’t seem to accomplish that, can i?

They stand there for what seems like an hour before Blazer finally musters up enough courage to meet his gaze. Cod, of course she had to tutor the guy she gave a bloody nose to! And it's Scuba, someone she isn't too keen on keeping company for an hour even if it's for school. It's his own damn fault he doesn't attend class, not hers, but she finds herself heaving a sigh and moving to the table.

"Okay, what do you need help with?"

_That's it. Keep the smile on your face. Don't let him see how disgusted you are of him. That won't do your social status any good._

He makes a face before sitting next to her. She can see some dried blood on his chin and quickly looks away before she can remind herself of what happened that morning. "Nothing."  
Blazer nods slowly, careful to keep the bright smile on her face. "If that were true, you wouldn't be here, so--"

Scuba tosses a book in front of her, the cover landing face-up. It's _Romeo and Juliet,_ the play they'd all been assigned in Inklish Honors to read. Judging from the battered cover and ruffled pages, the book hadn't done anything except sit in his bag. She wouldn't be surprised if everything in his backpack hadn't seen the light of day. "This thing, play, book, whatever."

"What about it?" Her voice is strained a little and Blazer forces herself to keep her tone calm. He's pissing her off just sitting here and doing basically nothing. The tutor session is going to be a long one, she can see it already.

"It’s like... uh, when you open it and see words on the paper?” 

She blinks. It’s so absurd that she forgets to be annoyed for a second. “Reading?” 

“Yeah! That. That book is really borin’ and I tried readin’ it twice but nahh.” He pulls a coin from nowhere and starts to roll it across his knuckles. She finds herself watching the coin as she shakes her head slowly. 

“So you haven’t read the book at all? You know we’re supposed to perform it and turn in an essay soon.”

“I can do performin’,” Scuba makes a face, “‘cause ‘Loha is always makin’ us do impromptu shit for him.”

“What about writing essays?”

“Not a strong point,” he admits. “But what’s the point of writin’ the damn essay if I didn’t even read it since the writer didn’t even bother to make it interestin’?”

Blazer honestly wants to slap him. Anyone in their right mind would see that Squidspeare _is_ interesting, but Scuba doesn’t really seem like he’s in his right mind now. Or ever, actually. 

The coin has disappeared completely due to it rolling across the library floor. Scuba watches it settle underneath a bookcase before shrugging and turning his attention to Blazer. 

“But Squidspeare is interesting,” she tries, seeing he’s waiting for a response. “You just never gave it a chance.”

Scuba just shrugs. “If I did, I don’t think I’d have time to read all that anyway. Too many parties to go to, y’know?” 

“No, I don’t know.”

“Right. ‘Cause you’re a nerd who studies all day and night.” It’s an offhand comment, but it stings. Blazer feels anger rise inside her. 

“Just— Do you have any other work to do other than _Romeo and Juliet_? Like math? Or any of the other classes you conveniently missed today?”

He tilts his head at her. “Hey, I went to one class today. It’s more than I usually do.”

“Gym class?”

He grins once at her, but she just looks away. “Of course. Seein’ everyone hot and sweaty is worth it.”

“You need to start attending class for starters,” Blazer tells him, eyes determinedly fixed on the table. She won’t fall to his charm, she’ll make sure of it. “You won’t understand anything if you do.”

She can’t see Scuba’s smile fade, but he does sit up straighter. “Yeah, sure, but that book there is all I need help with.”

Blazer risks giving him an incredulous look, but he looks serious for once. She sighs and opens the book to the first page. “What about it? It’s not interesting?”

Scuba shrugs. “Yeah.”

“Hmmm.”

What could she say to interest Scuba? He only ever seems to like partying and hitting on people, two things Blazer is very unfamiliar with. An idea strikes her. “Do you ever like watching those drama shows?”

His eyes show interest almost immediately but he saves face by managing to casually say, “I guess. Straw keeps them on sometimes.”

“Okay, think of _Romeo and Juliet_ as a drama show,” she says. Her brain is spinning on its gears; she’s getting way into this crazy idea that just might work. “So this boy sees this really hot girl and wants to...” she trails off. How much vulgarity does she wants to incorporate? She doesn’t want to risk her reputation in a library of all places. “...he wants to be with her—“

“Is the guy hot too?” Scuba interrupts and she shoots him an annoyed look before seeing he has genuine curiosity in his eyes. It’s hard to see his eyes themselves through that snorkel mask, but Blazer’s sure she sees a glimmer of interest there. Fueled, she presses on. 

“Yes. He’s hot. Very very hot.” 

Satisfied, Scuba leans back and lets her continue. 

“Anyway, they want to hook up because the girl falls in love with him too. But the only problem is that their parents absolutely hate each other so they have to sneak around to see and talk to each other.”

She stops because Scuba is watching her intently. “What?”

The bell rings then, and kids start leaving, making it too loud for her to continue. She closes the book and slides it back to him. “Read the first act at least, and we’ll go from there.”

“Dope.” He tosses the book into his backpack and stands, grinning. As he’s leaving, she hears, “I think you’re gonna be a pretty great tutor, Blaze.”

She stares after him, the tallass in the middle of shorter high school students. He just called her a nickname her friends all used _and_ just complimented her. The intent secures itself in her brain, built off of assumptions and doubt.

He’s trying to win her over like he does with everyone else. 

—

Stealth is waiting for her to walk home together and Blazer quickly hurries over to him. Both Bamboo and Rider get out early because they don’t have a seventh period, but since both Blazer and Stealth have full schedules and live somewhat close to each other, they can walk home. 

“How was the tutoring session?” he asks as they turn in front of the school gates. “I heard about it from Bamboo.”

“It was... intriguing,” she replies. Stealth gives her a look. Whenever he’s alone with any of his friends, he always lifts the front part of his helmet. This means that Blazer can see his eyes staring at her, and she’s a bit relieved for it. 

“What do you mean by intriguing?”

“I’m tutoring Scuba, of all people,” she says and Stealth only looks confused. 

“Wouldn’t that just be hard?”

“No. I mean, yes, it’s hard. But he actually seemed interested in _Romeo and Juliet_ after I laid it out like a romantic drama show for him.”

“That’s literally what the play is.”

“I know! I just had to use his language to get through to him apparently.”

“Oh, so the ‘dope’ Romeo and the ‘hot’ Juliet?”

Blazer giggles. “Oh, be quiet!”

A matching smile is spreading across Stealth’s usually serious face. “I’m right, aren’t I?”

“You are, but this is the first time I’ve ever heard you use ‘dope’ and ‘hot’ in that context and I don’t think I want to hear it again.”

“Point taken.”

They’re in front of his house now, and she waves to him as he walks to the door. “See you tomorrow, Stealthy!” 

“Bye,” he calls back before the door shuts behind him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> forgot to mention there’ll be dirty jokes in here. idk anymore chdkddh


	3. romeo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where Pink Team has their fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> theres so many romeo and juliet references here im sorry i literally took lines from the play for this fjsjd thats how invested i am

“Heard Blazer’s tutorin’ you,” is the first thing Aloha says as Scuba walks through the door of their apartment. 

Scuba grins briefly at him. “Yeah, why?”

“She’s cute, eh?”

“I guess,” Scuba tosses his bag into the corner of the room, still clutching _Romeo and Juliet_ ; Aloha’s eyes drop to the book and he smirks. 

“Since when did you read, man?”

Scuba just shrugs, waving the book at Aloha, “Don’t act like you don’t read Squidspeare in your free time, ‘Loha.”

Aloha’s gaze sharpens slightly and he jokingly pretends to glance around him to make sure no one’s around, even if the girls aren’t home yet. “Shh! Someone could hear ya!”

“Chill, man, Straw and OG ain’t gonna be home for another hour.”

“Sundae trip, right? I never understood why they do that.”

“Straw’s been bugging me to come with them, but I haven’t had the chance to ask you first, anyway.”

“Awww, you wouldn’t go without your bro, would ya?” Aloha elbows him, laughing and Scuba snorts. 

“Why would I?”

“Okay, but on the topic of that—“ Aloha gestures to the book still in Scuba’s hand. “Have you finished it yet?”

“No, Blazer somehow just got me hooked on the damn thing. It’s like that time when we all tried snorting Kool-Aid and couldn’t stop.”

Aloha makes a face. “Don’t remind me.”

“It was your idea,” Scuba reminds him and Aloha swats at him. 

“I could recite _Romeo and Juliet_ for you. It’s my specialty.”

“Your specialty is performing mushy monologues or stabbing people? I think you’d be good at both.”

“Oh shut up,” Aloha groans, but Scuba can see he’s smiling. 

The girls get home after an hour smelling like chocolate and cherries and grinning like idiots. 

“You two have fun?” Aloha asks them lazily, and both of them flush. “How many did you buy?”

They exchange looks before Octoglasses speaks up. 

“One.”

“And how many times did you ‘accidentally’ kiss while eating it?” Scuba asks and both of their blushes intensify. 

“Oh my cod, Scuba, is that a frickin’ book?” Straw pounces on the chance to divert attention and Scuba glances down at _Romeo and Juliet_ before looking back up at them. 

“Maybe.”

“It totally is,” Octoglasses laughs. “I haven’t picked that up yet, though that should be a good idea since the essay is due in a bit.”

“You should. It’s pretty good.” Scuba tosses her the book and she catches it easily, flipping to a random page.

"'Loha," she says, eyes flicking to their technical 'popular group' leader. "You ever tried being someone other than Romeo?"

Aloha grins at her and spreads his arms, eyes sparkling. Scuba knows this look well enough and he smiles, amused. "Romeo! Humours! Madman! Passion! Lover! Appear thou in the likeness of a sigh: speak but one rhyme and I'm satisfied--"

"Okay, okay, we get it, _Mercutio_ ," Octoglasses snorts and flings the book back at Scuba. "You gonna audition for him or what?"

"He could probably audition for the entirety of the play," Straw says jokingly, and Aloha taps his nose.

"Yeah, I am. I'm gonna see if Teach will let me do an entire scene by myself." 

"Takin' the lead; why am I not surprised." Octoglasses shakes her head and flops onto the couch. "Actin' can be cathartic, is that why you wanna do that? Or simply because you're a nerd?"

"Both. Pretending to die is always good. It eases the mind in wondrous ways."

Straw giggles before lifting a pencil that was lying nearby on the coffee table and throwing it to Aloha. "Thy lips are warm or whatever. I don't remember what Juliet says."

The other Inkling catches it and holds it reverently in the air like it's his most treasured possession, "O' happy dagger! This is thy sheath; there rust and let me die." He pretends to plunge the pencil into his chest and dramatically sinks to the floor while his friends watch in barely contained amusement.

"Oh my cod, 'Loha, stop, you're actin' like an idiot," Octoglasses chides, laughing, and Aloha opens one eye to stare at her.

"It's just to make Scuba finish the book so he can get over their deaths faster. Remember that time when we watched that movie one night where this side character died and he wouldn't stop crying?"

Scuba blinks. The conversation is moving too fast for him to keep up, especially since he's trying to read at the same time. "Okay, but-- wait, they _die_?"

The other three exchange looks. Oh cod, they'll never hear the end of this.

\---

He finishes the play by midnight. He and his friends have nothing to do tonight anyway, and he doesn't plan to go to school until English comes around anyway, since Aloha informed him tomorrow is when the teacher will assign scenes. They leave him alone for two hours as he finishes crying and Aloha knocks on his door once he's sure the other is done bawling his eyes out.

"Waterworks finished?"

Scuba glares half-heartedly at the door, replacing the snorkel mask over his face. "Yeah, yeah, whatever."

"Cool." The door opens wider and Aloha steps inside, playful smirk stretched across his face and Scuba raises a hand before his friend can get another word out.

"No, I'm not actin' out any part of this thing with you tonight."

"Not even the sex scene?" Aloha wiggles his eyebrows and Scuba snorts, throwing a pillow at him.

"You're too horny to live."

Aloha catches the pillow -- or rather, he blocks the pillow, batting it back to Scuba. "Not the death scene either? I make a good Juliet."

"I don't want to lay prone on the bed while you scream about daggers and love."

"Good point." Aloha crosses the room and sits down next to Scuba, the bed shifting slightly from his weight. "Anyway, just gonna ask you here, but you're done with your ex, right?"

"Yeah, which one?" Scuba adds as an afterthought. 

Aloha narrows his eyes, but grins. "The most recent, what else?"

"I am, why?" Scuba has some sinking feeling in his gut. "You hook up with her?"

His friend at least has the foresight to look apologetic. "Look, man, I didn't mean to but--"

"No, no, it's fine. I'm over her anyway." The sinking feeling now twists into something harder, like anger, but Scuba doesn't know what it's being aimed at. Not Aloha, that's for sure, but the girl he used to be with, maybe? All everyone wants to do is date him to get close to Aloha, and each time he thinks they're different, the nagging suspicion is that they're not, so he breaks it off before he can even get a chance to go through heartbreak himself.

"You sure?" Aloha is staring at him, concern in his gaze, and Scuba looks away so his friend can't see how much it's bothering him. "Like, I can tell you aren't into her anymore, but still. You okay with me datin' her?"

"Go ahead." He says the words with a bit more bitterness than he intended to, but manages to soften his tone. "You like her, right?"

"Yeah." Aloha bounces a little on the bed. "She's cute, not really my type, but it's the kinda thing to see crash and burn for the feel of it, y'know?"

"No." It's the truth; he _doesn't_ know how it feels like to want to be in a relationship just to see it fail. He always enters one wondering when he's going to dump them, or when they're going to run off to his best friend. As much as he loves Aloha, his friend is too attractive for his own good.

Aloha stops bouncing, and Scuba suddenly wishes he didn't say anything. A hand lands on his shoulder and he flinches slightly at the sudden contact. "Hey."

He reluctantly turns to look at the shorter Inkling. "What?"

"If you don't want me datin' her, jus' tell me, 'kay?"

"It's fine," Scuba says, and though Aloha looks like he doesn't believe his friend for one bit, he knows enough to hear the tone of finality there. He backs off.

"Alright, jus' makin' sure. You gonna be tutored by Blazer again tomorrow, ain'tcha?"

"Yeah," Scuba replies, relieved at the topic change. "Where're you and the girls headin' around that time?"

"Mall. Straw found some cute shirts she wanted to buy, so we're goin' there first. You ditchin' Miss Goody Two Shoes?"

"Nah, I think she'll be worth my time."  
"You hittin' on her? She hittin' on you? You're never one to hang around books if you've got other things to do."

"Neither, actually," Scuba answer with a slight grin. "Just studyin', y'know? Or her tryin' to get me to study. It's kinda amusin'."

Aloha snorts. "You do you, man, I'll support ya. But if you wanna get away from all that paper and _thinking_ , then you know where to find us, yeah?"

He reaches out, palm of his hand facing Scuba, and the masked Inkling gladly slaps hands with him, grasping to pull his friend into a brief hug. "See you tomorrow, then."

Aloha mockingly salutes him, standing and heading back to the door. "G'night, Scubes."

"Night."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aloha and scuba are just the best bros amiright or amiright


	4. dodging balls and dodging somewhat lazy asses who do no work whatsoever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gym class and Inklish class. Both of them are with Scuba, surprisingly, and Blazer is starting to dread the rest of the year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this took me so long to get out dsjsjd its like double the normal length tho so it should make up for it :0

A week later, Blazer almost has to do a double take to see Scuba and his entire friend group in her gym class. Maybe it's because she started talking more to Scuba that she notices him more, or maybe because they never show up to any classes and their pink ink is such a rarity in the multi-colored hallways that they're easy to spot. Probably the latter.

Today is dodgeball, something she isn't keen on. Her gym clothes are itching and she readjusts her shirt, tugging it so the seams don't dig into her shoulders.

Their past study sessions have gone well. _Way_ too well. It almost seemed like Scuba was interested in his work, or rather, _Romeo and Juliet_ to be exact. Everything else was a task to him and once she managed to capture his interest by explaining it 'his' way, it was smooth sailing from then on. He's funny, she's starting to realize, with more humor than she realized. His friends always laughing at the stuff he says isn't fake, it's genuine, and she finds herself giggling more than once at some offhand remark he makes about a teacher or an assignment. She's earned a lot of dirty glances from the librarian that way.

And the way his eyes light up with pleasant surprise whenever she talks to him isn't something to be ignored either. Blazer can't imagine why, except for maybe that he has a crush on her. But how could he? All of his past relationships ended so quickly it was impossible for him to even feel anything anymore, not when he's left such a long trail of broken hearts behind him. Besides, it wasn't like he flirts with her anyway. And she refuses to like him, even if he did confess. She's even planned out the entire shutdown, which wasn't too much for her to do, right?

"Listen up! Seniors! I shouldn't have to talk over you!" their teacher shouts to be heard above the chatter. "We're going to be dividing into teams--"

There's a mass scramble for friends before they hear the rest: "--and I'll be choosing them."

A loud groan drifts from the students as they settle reluctantly back onto their seats on the bleachers, Blazer instinctively tucking her knees to her chest. She hopes she'll be on one of her friends' teams at least; since all four of them are in the same class, it's a higher chance than what other people would get, like Forge, who looks rather alone sitting at the end of the bleachers, book in hand.

"We'll be splitting these two up, at least," their gym teacher laughs, gesturing to both Rider and Aloha, who somehow manage to side glare each other and give neutral looks -- or in Aloha's case, a wide smile -- at the teacher. "Aloha and Rider. You'll be the captains of each team, that alright?" 

"Yep!" Aloha bounds down the bleachers, the metal somehow not shaking under his weight. Rider clomps down the stands too, brows furrowed as he makes a dismissive noise.

"Great. And now for the teams..."

Scuba, Octoglasses, and Straw somehow all end up on Aloha's team. Teacher bias, Blazer assumes, because whenever the four of them do show up for whatever minuscule amount of classes they have, the teachers seem to let them get away with everything. There are no jabs of teacher's pet though, because they all know that the four pink Inklings get what they want when they want it. No exceptions.

What surprises her is that she ends up on their team, Stealth and Bamboo ending up on Rider's team. As she moves to the other four Inklings, Bamboo shoots her a sympathetic look, Rider looking almost sorry for her. Stealth merely seems nervous, but Blazer has no idea where he's looking because he's allowed to keep the goggles on his face despite health concerns.

A hand lands on her shoulder and she jumps, ready to push it off before she sees it's Octoglasses. "You ready to blow this popsicle stand?" she asks with an easy grin. 

"Maybe?" It's more of a question, but Octoglasses has already moved to whisper something in Aloha's ear, who nods.

Their teacher seems to have finished assigning teams and now stands at the line separating the two areas, whistle at his mouth. "You two ready? Get set. Go!"

The whistle blast always makes Blazer cringe, and today is no exception. She watches as people rush forward to take the balls and colored blurs start to fly past her face, missing by inches. It takes her that long for her to remember she could get out and quickly picks up a discarded ball. 

She's always been on the same team as Rider, and now she realizes why the opposing team always looks so scared when he targets them. He throws _hard_. It's like he means for the ball to go in one way and out the other in a straight line, regardless of whose guts are splattered across the gym walls. And Aloha and his friends? Are dodging every hit.

She's never seen them on one team before, and they've only played dodgeball once so far anyway, since they're only a few weeks into the school year, but standing behind them, she can see the fluidity of their motions and the teamwork they use to toss balls to one another to chuck across. Blazer watches as a ball seamlessly passes from Straw's hands to Scuba's, who drops to the ground to avoid a stray attack before lobbing it to Aloha. Aloha whacks it out of the air and it nails Metry in the shoulder. It's almost like they're dancing.

It's in this way that most of Rider's team is out, Blazer herself losing concentration for a second before a ball weakly taps her hip and she looks up to see an apologetic look on Jersey's face. Octoglasses and Scuba have both been taken out by multiple attacks, where every single ball in Rider's side's possession have been lobbed at them. Although they had fast reflexes, it wasn't fast enough to evade _everything_.

It's over all too soon, Aloha's team being declared the winners because the bell rings before the battle even finishes. Aloha winks at Blazer as he passes her. "Good game, Blaze."

"O-Oh, same to you!" she offers with a quick smile, though it fades as she enters the locker rooms. Aloha only speaks to her when he absolutely feels like it and most of it is just casual flirting or jabs. He hasn't winked at her in all the three years -- and now four -- that she's known him. Maybe she wasn't worth making advances on, and she was fine with that, but why start now?  
It occurs to her that maybe Aloha had convinced the teacher to separate her from her friends. She has no idea why. The pink Inkling always had _some_ kind of reason to do the things he does, and Blazer is sure that whatever he has planned isn't what she wants.

She's not surprised when she finds Scuba waiting outside the girls' locker room for her, like he's been doing for the past week. It's become a common occurrence to her by now, and he falls into step besides her as their classmates rush around them, trying to get to their next class.

"What do you want?" It's not really a greeting, but she doesn't mean it to be rude either. Their conversations become more like a battle of wits at times, and if he's here, he must need something from her, like he has ever since he started walking her to her next class. A missed assignment, maybe, an excuse as to why he's not in class more likely.

He merely grins at her, the florescent lights reflecting across his mask. "You pullin' the study sesh today?"

"Oh, you actually plan on showing up, right?" She blinks up at him innocently and he pretends to look hurt.

"C'mon, Blaze, I've shown up to literally every single one of those tutoring things with you."

"Yet I told you it'd mean so much more if you show up to class instead."

Scuba frowns. "I already know all that bullshit. Why would I go?" 

"You don't seem to know it all, or else you wouldn't be tutored right now."

He makes a face. "Maybe I actually tolerate ya, you ever think of that?"

"Oh, so I'm only tolerated?"

They go back and forth like that, her trying to get him to go class, and him evading all her points with the same ease as he had in gym. The bell rings all too soon and Blazer blinks to find herself at her next class' doorway. 

"That's the bell," Scuba points out, as if it wasn't so obvious, and Blazer resists the urge to roll her eyes and beams at him. 

"Yep! See you in the library!" She waves as he heads back down the hallway in the opposite direction before walking into her class.

\--

Inklish is one of her favorite classes, and since they're studying Squidspeare, it makes it so much better than usual. It only now occurs to her that Scuba shares the same English class with her. Aloha too, judging by the two empty seats in the back of the classroom. The teacher barely glances at their desks when she takes roll, instead pulling out a list and reading off of it.

"Alright, class, as I'm sure you've all finished your reading of _Romeo and Juliet_ , it's now time to assign roles for your performance at the end of the semester. The other Inklish classes have agreed on this, and it's to not have an essay due with the performance."

She barely allows time for the students to cheer before continuing. "Instead, you'll be assigned two to three scenes, as opposed to your usual one. It's expected for you to memorize these lines with your assigned scene partners and--"

The door swings open as she speaks and every single kid in the classroom turns to face the doorway, eager for a distraction. Aloha and Scuba enter -- both doing absolutely nothing to mask their footsteps or the slam of the door behind them -- and slide into their seats. The teacher blinks at them above her reading glasses before continuing. Blazer catches Scuba's eye and he grins and elbows Aloha, who winks at her. That gets her to turn around again and pay attention.

"--As I was saying, you are expected to memorize lines and perform with assigned scene partners. Can I have two volunteers to help me pass out the assignments?"

Blazer, as always, has her hand in the air before anyone else, but the teacher chooses two other students to pass them out, with a slight smile in the yellow-green Inkling's direction. _Next time_ , her eyes say.

Blazer just opts to wait patiently until her paper is in front of her, purposefully ignoring Aloha and Scuba, who are nearly directly behind her. She can see the role through the back of the page: Juliet.

Of course she'd land the main role. As a straight A student and a nerd, she's expected to do everything perfectly, and she knows the teacher will be looking at her extra closely for this assignment. Anything lower than a B won't fly with her parents, so she has to do well or else she'd deal with more than her soiled pride.

She flips the paper over, hearts sinking with dread. Her scenes are listed as the balcony and Juliet's death. Not bad, but she has to do a great deal of acting for this, which isn't something she's too keen on.

"You are a lover!" Blazer jumps and spins around to see Aloha standing on his desk, arms spread wide. In one hand is his assignment sheet; the other hand is pointing to Scuba, who looks like he's going to either laugh or shove Aloha off the desk. "Borrow Cupid's, and soar above a common bond!"

Scuba sighs heavily, but he's smiling slightly. His lines are more subdued than Aloha's, but his friend seems to take it well. "I am too sore enpierced with his shaft to soar with his light feathers, and so bound, I cannot bound a pitch above dull woe: under love's heavy burden do I sink."

Blazer is impressed. Scuba somehow has memorized these lines within the week that he even started reading _Romeo and Juliet_. She has a fleeting suspicion that Aloha forced him to do this specific exchange, especially since Aloha climbs off the desk and raises a hand to Scuba. The masked Inkling rolls his eyes good naturedly but completes the gesture.

"You get Mercutio, Aloha?" A student calls across the classroom -- Blazer forgets his name -- and the pink Inkling grins back. 

"You know I did! Who'd you land, Gloves?"

"Same, but in that exact scene you just quoted. I also got Paris and Benvolio, but that's not important. You mind helping me with lines?"

Aloha smirks. "You wish. Gotta be fresher than that to get my help."

"You wound me." Gloves makes a gesture like he's been stabbed and Aloha just laughs before turning to Blazer.

"Hey, who'd you get?"

Blazer blinks. "Juliet," she says automatically, without really registering that Aloha is talking to her. "Both scenes."

"Nice!" Aloha winks at her. "Sad we're not in the same scene, but y'know it could've been worse."

She bites her lip. Yeah, Aloha definitely seems to be flirting with her. She's not interested him in him at all, and besides, isn't he taken?

_Yeah, he's with Scuba's ex. His latest one, anyway._

Speaking of Scuba, the pink Inkling seems to be inspecting his assignment paper in uncharacteristic silence. Aloha notices and invades his friend's personal space, grinning. "What scenes you have?" There's a pause as he scans the paper. "Oh, hey, we got the same scene. You get to help me die."

Scuba snorts, pushing Aloha away. "Shut up, I'm not helpin' you do anythin'. Practice on your own. You've got all the parts memorized already."

"Even after all I've done for you?" Aloha pouts and Blazer has to admit it's a cute expression. As long as it isn't used on her, she's fine with it. Scuba hardly seems fazed. 

"What'd you do other than bet me to do a keg stand last party?"

"C'mon, you said you could, so I was gonna take that chance. I was helpin' you by raising everyone's opinions of you at that party."

The other just groans. "That wasn't helpful, but okay, fine. Only 'cause you're my bro."

"Shell yeah!" Aloha somehow flings himself further into Scuba's personal space and squeezes his friend in a very awkwardly positioned hug. "This is a bad hug because your chair is actually out to get me, but you get the point." He pulls away, grinning, and Scuba matches the expression perfectly. Blazer feels some weird feeling swirling in her stomach as she watches them: it's a mixture of longing and fondness. She shakes her head to clear it because she has friends of her own and she's grateful for them, but Aloha and Scuba have this bond that she knows is very hard to replicate with even the closest of friends.

"Scuba," the teacher calls, and the masked Inkling looks up, eyebrows slightly raised.

"Yeah?"  
"You have that homework assignment for me?" 

Blazer half expects him to not have it or to have lost it, but to her surprise, he tugs it out of his backpack, albeit wrinkled. She supposes that he didn't want to lose it after spending over two tutoring sessions with him, trying to convince him to think of legit themes of the play other than "stupidity" and "impatience" (his words, not hers). 

"Yeah, right here." He stands to give it to the teacher and Blazer glances down at his abandoned assignment sheet. 

he name 'Romeo' stands out in black bolded print, and right below it, his scenes. Her hearts sink. The scenes are more or less the same as hers: the balcony scene and her -- their -- death scene.

She doesn't know if she can survive this. As much as she's an almost-kinda-sorta friend with him, he's lazy and rarely bothers to put effort into his work. If she wants an A, she's going to have to tutor him how to have a better work ethic.

She's so screwed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cries in writers block


	5. confusion sometimes is a good thing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The part where the slow burn becomes medium burn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow another chapter :0

At first it's just casual conversations. But then it turns to pickup lines -- the cheesy ones -- coupled with a wink and a smile. And then the dirty jokes, subtly hinted behind her in Inklish class. Blazer knows Aloha well enough that this isn't like him, to be chasing after her like this. All the flirtatious charm that she's seen turned on other girls and guys are now full force on her, and she doesn't know what to do with it. She's not interested, why won't he get that?

Maybe Scuba would know. The two of them are so close that she wouldn't be surprised if they could read each other's minds. So he _must_ know why Aloha decided to flirt with her all of a sudden, right?

"What's Aloha doing?" she asks one day during their study session. Scuba actually seems to be invested in whatever worksheet he's doing right now, and he hasn't stopped at all to stare blankly at some wall, which gives her time to do her own homework. Which would be fine most days, but Blazer actually needs to talk to him.

"Whaddya mean?" He barely looks up. "What _isn't_ he doin'?" He chuckles at his own joke, but she isn't laughing.

"Nothing but flirting with me." She sees his shoulders tense slightly, and her eyes narrow. Something's up. "He's never done that for all the times I've known him and we've talked on more than one occasion. You're his best friend, so I'm assuming you know something about this."

There's no response from the masked Inkling; though Scuba stays hunched his work, Blazer can tell he's not reading a single word on that page. "Scuba."

"Yeah?" He sits up and glances over at her, but he refuses to meet her gaze. 

"Why is Aloha flirting with me?"

"He flirts with everyone--" Scuba starts, but Blazer cuts him off.

"No, like I said before, he hasn't flirted with me in years. What's the deal now? You know something about this, I know you do. He's taken, isn't he?"

Scuba's eyes flicker. "Nah, not anymore. He broke up with his ex last weekend."

"So why me? I'm not interested in him!"

Scuba says nothing for a long while. It's so quiet, Blazer can hear the scratching of pencils of nearby students. "He probably likes you. Isn't that what ya do when you flirt? Show affection? All that shit?"

"Yes but--"

"Should probably head out." The pink Inkling stands abruptly, sweeping his things into his bag, and Blazer blinks. It's a full ten minutes before the bell rings and ever since she's been assigned to tutor him, he's never left early. "Forgot I needed to give Straw some stuff."

She stands as well, out of indignation for anything else. "You can't just leave! I need an answer, please!" 

_Great, now you sound desperate. What if he takes it the wrong way?_

Scuba turns to face her, and she's struck with how serious he looks. She waits for him to do something, breathless. The librarian is staring at them with disapproval but she doesn't care right now.

"Are we friends?"

The question comes from nowhere, and Blazer blinks twice.

"Yes?"

Something in Scuba's stoic expression seems to crack.

"Okay, cool." The masked Inkling turns on his heel and walks out, the library doors swinging shut behind him, leaving Blazer to stare after him in confusion.

_What the shell was that about?_

\--

Wow. He hasn't even been talking to her for more than two weeks and he's already in the friendzone. Nothing that Scuba couldn't handle of course, but it was... different having girls _not_ climbing over him, trying to see if they could steal his heart, and subsequently, Aloha's.

And it felt nice. Really.

But the whole time Blazer was responding to his jokes, casual exchanges, and quips without flirting at him, he finds himself being pulled towards her. Ironic, in a way, that the _only_ girl who didn't try to swallow him whole is the one he ends up being attracted to.

And no, despite his long line of exes and rumors of trails of heartbreak, ever since Metry, he hasn't had a good partner since. All of them are clustering for Aloha, the collective idea being if they could hook up with the party animal's best friend, they could get closer to the main guy himself. Aloha takes his exes simply because Scuba encourages him to, and that's why Aloha is flirting with Blazer. To see her true intentions.

Because everything's a trick, is it not? It's what he's known all through high school, each time that knife has been dragged through his heartstrings, snapping each in painful twangs that he's learned to detect before they can happen. Each girl he ever talks to? He leads them straight to Aloha so he can see what they _really_ want.

But Blazer doesn't want Aloha, surprisingly. Or rather, it's not surprising, considering the only things the girl even cares about is her grades and her friends, but it's not making sense in Scuba's mind. Who the shell doesn't want Aloha? Scuba can't think of one person who would turn down the advances made by his friend, but in a way, he's slightly glad for it.

The next day is something of a trance; he walks to class like he's been going to it all year, legs mindlessly taking him down the hallways into his classroom. It's science, some advanced placement chemistry class he never bothered to attend. He only took it because Straw loves science, though since they're not in the same class, he has an excuse to skip it.

"Scuba." A finger taps him on the shoulder and he turns slightly to see Stealth staring at him, mouth a thin line under his goggles. He's shaking slightly and Scuba swears he sees a bead of sweat trickle down the side of the other's face. Stealth would _never_ talk to him unprompted; who forced him to do this?

"Yeah, wassup?" The masked Inkling flashes the other a lazy peace sign, which only serves to agitate Stealth more.

"Why is Aloha flirting with Blazer?"

_Great._

"Did she ask you to ask me?"

"N-no! It was just--"

"Nah, it's chill, man, you don't hafta explain it," Scuba interjects. "I was jus' wonderin'.... Hey!"

Stealth jumps visibly. "Y-yeah?"

"Do you have Blazer's number?"

The suspicion would be there if Stealth's goggles didn't get in the way. "Yeah. W-why?"

"I dunno about this math problem thing so I wanted to ask her before I got to fourth."

"But you n-never attend class," Stealth points out, and Scuba shrugs. 

"True, but I'm here now, aren't I?"

A moment of silence before Stealth sighs. "I'll give it to you after class."

Scuba grins. This was easier than he thought. Take attention away from Aloha's totally not forced flirting tactics _and_ get Blazer's number? It's like that one saying: two birds with one Inkstrike. "Sweet."

\--

Class is a blur and Blazer is so overwhelmed with homework, she literally staggers out of her math class in a daze. She almost doesn't notice Stealth hurrying up to her as they walk to gym class. "H-hey Blazer?"

"Not now, Stealthy, sorry." She's busy thinking. That challenge problem her teacher introduced to the class has gotten on her nerves and her determination to solve it didn't take away from the fact that she's trying to do it in her head while nearly walking into the locker room door. Stealth manages to grab her wrist before she can collide with it.

"Thanks," she offers breathlessly, and starts to hurry into the locker room as Stealth starts,

"No problem, but I need to tell you th--"

The door slams shut behind her, and if she just stopped to listen closely, she would've heard: "Tell you that I gave your number to Scuba without permission and I'm sorry", but she's too far into the gym to notice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is short im sorry dhjdhjds im not good at buildup


	6. studying and wondering

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The plot continues and the medium burn continues with it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this took so long for me to get out dssfddf ive lost so much motivation lately

Scuba isn't in gym today, and she's slightly disappointed by it, but shrugs it off quickly. Hopefully he won't miss his tutor session as both of their grades depend on it, but he's had that reputation that no matter how many classes he missed, he somehow always showed up solely to listen to her attempt to get rid of his lazy ways.

He never really changed his work habits either, so it was just going in circles. She'd try to convince him to actually attend class and do homework and he responded by doing a single sheet of paper that he later tossed into the recycling bin on the way out. Like, _really_. Did he seriously think she wouldn't notice?

Well, whatever the case, she certainly noticed he wasn't in gym today, one of the only classes he actually never skipped.

The entire friend group he's in isn't in gym at all, in fact, and Blazer spends a half grateful, half concerned period with her own friends.

As she's walking out of the gym to meet up with Stealth to go to Inklish, she gets a text from her phone from an unknown number.

_???: hey this is blazer rite_

She shakes her head at the lack of regards for capitalization or spelling, but responds anyway. She doesn't know who this person is and how they got her number. Maybe a wrong dialing?

_Blazer: Yes, it is! Who is this?_

Stealth glances over her shoulder and blanches at the number. "O-oh, Blazer."

"Yeah, Stealthy?" She looks up at him to see him visibly sweating. "Are you okay?"

"That number-- I might've-- I mean I shouldn't have before asking-- Please don't be mad at me-- I--"

The buzz of Blazer's phone interrupts his stammering and her gaze slides down to the responding text and almost drops her phone.

_???: shit srry forgot to lead with that haha this is scuba lmao_

"I.. gave your number to Scuba," Stealth rushes out in a short breath. "I didn't ask you, but I should've beforehand and I'm _so sorry_ \--"

"Stealth." She stops him with a smile. "You're okay. It's fine."

"O-oh." He stops talking and looks down at his hands as they walk through the bustling hallways.

_Blazer: Oh, hi! You need something?_

_Scuba: no. not rlly. was gonna tell u that i wasnt gonna be in gym 2day but im pretty sure its over now lol. dw tho cuz ill show up 4 tutoring_

_Blazer: Okay, that's good! You better actually do homework this time._

_Scuba: haha lmao when have i not_

_Scuba: actually dont answer that :/_

_Scuba: hI BLAZEr i LoOVE AND apPRecIATe yU :)) <333_

_Scuba: that was aloha ignore him gtg now bye_

Blazer raises an eyebrow at her phone and stifles a giggle. The Inklish teacher frowns. "Miss Blazer, do you have something to share with us?"

Blazer jumps and shoves the phone into her pocket. "N-no, sorry. Continue."

The teacher stares at her for a moment longer and starts class, Blazer's cheeks burning with embarrassment. Stealth casts her a sympathetic look, one that's laced with fear. Blazer can only assume he's worried about spilling her number to Scuba, but she could never work up the courage to be mad at him. The only question on her mind is exactly _why_ Scuba asked Stealth instead of her directly and _how_ he got Stealth to give out the digits.

Inklish class is the usual, the lecturing on _Romeo and Juliet_ and the subsequent allowance to practice lines. Stealth tugs her into a corner so they can rehearse; as Aloha nor Scuba are here, Stealth is almost on his own if Rider skipped as well.

"Dunno what they're up to," the darker-skinned Inkling growls as he joins the two in the corner. "We're gonna end up with a bad grade if they don't memorize their lines on time."

Blazer bites back the comment that Aloha would probably already know the lines. It was just a matter of forcing Scuba to do his part. 

She doesn't need a typical Rider outburst today after all.

"What was that about your phone earlier?" Rider asks as they struggle to clear a small space for the three of them. Blazer blinks.

"O-oh. Scuba got ahold of my number and was texting me. Don't worry about it," she adds quickly. Rider doesn't seem too concerned about it; he's busy trying to yank a chair into its proper place.

"Cool."

It's only until the class is over does she see realization dawn in his eyes. She escapes through the classroom door as the bell rings before he can say anything to her.

\--

Scuba is waiting for her in the library as usual, grinning widely like he's just done something she should be proud of.

"What's up?" she asks as she slides into the seat next to him.

"Check it out." He produces a stack of paper, still grinning, and slides it over to her. She takes it, confused.

The stack is all of the homework from two weeks prior, the pages torn and wrinkled and the handwriting illegible, but it's _there_ and Blazer suddenly finds herself wondering if Scuba was really more than he seemed.

He seems to be waiting for her response, like a small cat that just caught a rat and was waiting for their owner to evaluate it. She takes a moment, flipping through the pages. All the answers are written at the top, in large bold letter, circled in highlighter -- a bit much, but it'll do. 

"You really did all of this?" The incredulous tone in her voice is genuine. He winks at her.

"Yup. Just for you, 'n that's why I missed classes today."

"Not because you were at the mall?"

He raises an eyebrow at her, pretending to look hurt. "When have I ever skipped to go to the mall?"

She giggles and gives the homework back to him. "You turning them in today?"

"Probably. Could wait 'til tomorrow.." She gives Scuba a look and he raises both hands, eyes wide. "Okay, okay, chill, I'll do it afterschool, yeah?"

"You better. You also could probably try to do _this_ week's homework. You've missed class so much, you probably have way more than you need to--"

"Even after I did all this?" Scuba snorts. "Fine, but 'Loha will kill me if I spend another day doing homework at our place."

Before she knows what she's doing, Blazer blurts out, "Let's do it at mine."

He stares at her, smiles so wide that her hearts go all jittery, and stands, mockingly bowing to her as he takes back the stack of homework. "Then it's a date."

She chases him from the library, her cheeks lime green for _some reason_. "Scuba! It's not a date!" 

\--

Blazer doesn’t know how to prepare herself. She’s never had a boy over before — actually, no, Stealth and Rider have been over on multiple occasions, but it’s not like Scuba is anything like them—

_Stop. Calm down. It’s just a stupid study session. Nothing more._

Her worry must show on her face because her little brother comes up to her. “Who are you waiting for?”

She jumps. “Oh. No one.”

“You keep staring at the door,” he points out. “Is Bamby coming over?” he asks, and Blazer shakes her head. 

“No. Someone else. I need you to be on your best behavior for him, okay?"

“ _Him_?” Her brother’s eyes light up. “You have a boyfriend and you didn’t tell me?”

“No!” She resists the urge to slap him. “Nothing like that. I’m tutoring him.”

“So he’s coming over,” her brother says blankly. 

“Yes. Now be quiet, go upstairs, and stay in your room.”

Her brother rolls his eyes but obeys. “Fine. You guys better not make any weird noises.”

“Brian!” Blazer runs after him but he slams the door before she can get close. Shaking her head, she walks back down the stairs, her foot hitting the bottom step right as the doorbell rings. 

“Coming!” She raises a hand to push a tentacle from her face and opens the door, revealing Scuba standing there, hastily buttoning up the top of his shirt. He notices her staring suspiciously at him and raises both hands in surrender. 

“Hey, don’t worry, I wasn’t makin’ out with anyone on your porch. This place is just too fancy for me and I think I need more buttons.”

Blazer just sighs. This is going to be a long study session. “Just come in. Take off your shoes.”

“Dope.” He kicks off his shoes easily and follows her into the house, whistling in amazement as he takes in the furnishing. “Damn, your house is fancier on the inside than the outside. I didn’t think that was even possible.”

“You’d be surprised. My room’s up here.” As she walks upstairs, she notices that Scuba holds himself like he’s afraid to touch anything. She wonders briefly how his own house is, before brushing it off. She sees Brian peeking from his room and she waves him away, but not before Scuba can see. 

“Yo, was that your lil' bro?”

“Yes. His name’s Brian and he’s an absolute _pain_.” She says the last word so Brian can hear and he laughs loudly. Scuba grins. 

“Seems like a fresh lil' dude,” he says, aiming his words at the door before turning to Blazer. “Lead on.”

She rolls her eyes but enters her room, shutting the door after they both are inside. “Here. I hope you brought your stuff.”

Scuba gives her a pained look. “Hey, I can remember things, alright? I did all that homework, remember?”

She feels a pang in her chest for that. Maybe underestimating Scuba isn’t the best option, but she can’t help it. “Sorry.”

The grin is back. “Nah, it’s cool. I’m just jokin’ around.”

Blazer can’t help but feel he wasn’t entirely joking, but she moves on. “Okay, do you have any work you need help on?”

Scuba shrugs, dropping his backpack off his shoulder and onto the ground. “Sure. I guess. I haven’t been to class in two days but I have all the homework.” He shows her a very messily gathered binder and she takes it gingerly. “You good with uhhh, all that junk?” 

She flips through the papers. They’re a mash of old homework she finished a while ago, some from classes she doesn’t take, and some that are recent. “Let’s work on the recent stuff first!” She’s starting to get a bit more into the homework mood as she stares at it. It’s math. Their teacher loves word problems, and she starts reading it aloud. 

When she finishes, Scuba already looks half asleep. “Did you get any of that?”

“Huh? Wha?” He blinks at her. “No.”

“You didn’t hear it at all?”

“No. Why would I bother with Inklish in a math class?”

Blazer sighs. “Okay. Look. Do you know how to find derivatives?”

“Yeah. I think.” He shrugs.

She tugs a piece of paper from her own binder and writes the equation she just derived from the problem. “Try that.”

He stares at it for a solid two seconds before looking back over at her. “Uh. I don’t get it.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

Scuba hesitates, before snickering. “Yeah, yeah, I am. Hang on.” He takes the paper and works at it — actually working at it — and Blazer is almost surprised. That session in the library had been a complete waste of time yet here he is, offering her the answer. 

She takes it, doing her own work on her paper and finding they got the same answer. 

“...You got it right.” 

“I did?” Scuba flicks a piece of lint off his clothes. “Fresh.”

She just shakes her head. He’s a mystery to her sometimes. 

—

The next two hours pass so quickly, Blazer is almost surprised to look up and see she’s been working on the same problem for half an hour. It’s one of those challenge problems the teacher hands out for fun. The kids in her class have been at it for almost a week but no one’s been able to solve it. She doesn’t expect Scuba to know this; the guy couldn’t solve a word problem, for cod’s sake. There’s no harm in asking, though. 

“Scuba?” 

He looks up from his phone. He’s barely done any work today, but Blazer can’t really force him to. She’s too nice for that. “Yo.”

“You know how to do this?” 

He squints at her paper and she wonders why he never takes the mask off. It must make things blurrier than he needs it to be. Then she wonders why she’s wondering so much about him. “Maybe. Lemme see.”

He takes the paper, barely glances at it, and scribbles things down before handing it back. “That’s the answer.”

She blanches. How did he manage to do so much work in a short time? The entire small space is filled with pencil marks, though his handwriting is just really big, the actual work shown is minimal. The answer is circled in the top corner and she stares at it. She works out the problem in her mind with the small amount of work he showed and it clicks for her. 

She gets the same answer as him. And ten minutes after he did. 

“You’re actually a genius,” she says, looking up at him in a new light. “How did you solve this?”

“Oh, you just—“

“No I get the details and steps, but how did you solve this so fast? This was our challenge problem this week and no one’s been able to solve it yet.”

“It is?” He gives her a confused look and she forces herself not to facepalm. “I haven’t been in class for a while.”

“You should,” Blazer says. “You have a lot of potential.”

“It’s so fuckin’ borin’,” he groans, leaning back, hand over his eyes. “I fall asleep within two seconds ‘cause it’s just that borin’.”

“...So you just know how to solve this? Off the top of your head?”

“No. That’s why I don’t like doin’ work. Takes too much effort. Take that as a favor from me for bein’ a pretty raw tutor. In addition to, like, all the other homework I missed.”

She shouldn’t blush from the compliment, _why is she blushing?_

“You should think about attending class more often, at least,” she replies, trying to keep her pride and flustered glow under control. 

He just winks at her. “We’ll see.”


	7. mistakes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blazer basically makes a mistake, and well, at least they both know about it now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> haha slow burn who
> 
> also this is short bc i didnt know what else to put in this chapter

She has a crush on him. _Fuck._

It's the first time she's really dropped an f-bomb in her mind, in addition to actually saying it, and it only cements the further horrific realization in her mind.

She can't deal with this.

_You gotta tell him, yeah? It's already bad enough since he thinks you're still friends._

"I can't," she tells herself, somewhat frustrated. "He won't return my feelings."

_No point in not trying._ The voice in her head sounds a bit smug, and she sighs because she knows it's right.

"How about this," it must sound ridiculous to an outsider, listening to her argue to herself, "I can write it down tonight and sleep on it. That way, I'll know what to do in the morning."

_Fine._

She takes a sheet of binder paper from her notebook-turned-diary. She's barely written in it since the start of school with all the work going on, but now's a good time to make this a habit, right? It's supposed to be helpful after all.

_'Dear Scuba,'_

She doesn't know why she writes it like a letter, but her fantasies are taking her past all logic.

_'I'm writing this to you because I love you. And as much as I hate that, I can't make myself stop._ '

Her "letter" goes on for three pages, scrawling down lines so quickly, her hand aches by the end of it, but her heart is full. The words aren't enough to her and she adds things in the margins, scribbling his name over and over, almost like a mantra. If she gets all the emotions out now, she tells herself, she'll have less of a crush on him.

_You're an idiot. That's not how it works_.

She ignores the voice and closes the diary gently, placing it carefully into her backpack. It's late, almost midnight, and she needs time to sleep. 

\--

She forgets about the notebook, the letter, all of it. School is getting harder and while she's doing a pretty good job of staying ahead of the work, it's tiring.

Lunchtime rolls around and she takes the notebook out, coincidentally skipping past the note altogether, going to a clean page and writing out her history notes. She's ahead by three weeks at least, but she doesn't really care. All the better to learn, anyway.

So she's completely unaware as someone from Scuba's friend group -- she forgets the name -- leans over her shoulder, breath freezing on her neck.

"What are you doing?" they ask, and Blazer immediately snaps the book shut, jerking away. Rider is nowhere to be found; Blazer sees him maybe halfway across the cafeteria, forcing the poor vending machine to cough up the money it wrongly swallowed.

"Homework," she says, eyes narrowing slightly to try to scare them off. She doesn't know how Rider always manages it. Stealth and Baboo are in the cafeteria line still and she knows she's on her own for this one. 

"You're such a nerd. Lemme see that."

And suddenly the notebook is ripped from her grasp. She gasps and tries to grab for it but they hold it over her head and snorts. "Try again."

They open the notebook and Blazer suddenly remembers, with a sharp punch to the gut, that she wrote her love note in here. and if Scuba finds out...

The kid is now flipping through the notebook, smile widening as they stop on a certain page and Blazer's hearts sink. _Of course they had to find it..._

She expects them to read it aloud, or something like that, but all they do is cackle in laughter and race across the room to where Scuba and the rest of the group is sitting. The notebook is shoved into Scuba's hands, and Blazer feels her gut compress into something hard with fear. She stands, starting over to the table, watching as Scuba's expression shifts from curiosity to shock and to amusement.

And then he laughs, shoving the notebook away.

He _laughs_.

Blazer just stands there, breath heavy in her lungs, blood pounding in her ears. She can feel her eyes burning from unshed tears as she spins on her heel, speed-walking out of the cafeteria, nearly running over Stealth on her way out. She can't stop to say sorry. She can't say anything or else the tears will start in front of everyone.

The hallways are empty, thank cod, and she finds a corner where the lockers end just short of a door, and she tucks herself into it, scrunching her knees to her chest, head lowering as she lets the tears flow.

She was so _stupid_ to think he'd return the same feelings. He probably thinks that she's like the others now, the hordes of girls who chase after him, longing for his heart. And what can she say against that? It's 100% true.

She dreads going to the tutor session at the end of the day. She can't face Scuba anyway. If she just skips, what else could happen to her? But he's never skipped a session before, so that'd be inconsiderate of her as well.

Footsteps.

She instinctively pushes herself further into her corner, but the footsteps stop right in front of her. She doesn't dare raise her head.

"Hey." The voice is familiar. 

_No. It can't be him. Not yet._

"Mind if I sit here?" For once, Scuba doesn't sound like he's smiling, and she finally lifts her head to see him standing over her, notebook in one hand a... rather serious look on his face. She didn't even know he could be capable of doing that.

Blazer nods the best she can and Scuba slides into the space. It's a tight fit for both of them, but Scuba simply edges the door out of the way so it shuts, and they sit there in silence for a moment.

"I'm... really sorry about what happened," he says finally.

She blinks, forgetting her tears for a moment. _He's apologizing?_

"I shouldn't have reacted like that, it wasn't the best of me to do that. And that kid was an asshole. I've been tryna get 'Loha to kick 'em outta the group, but 'Loha isn't known for enforcin' order a shit ton, yeah?"

She smiles, despite herself, and Scuba glances over at her. "Hey, there's that smile."

Blazer makes a face at him, and he laughs. "Hey, now, so we cool?"

She nods slowly, taking the notebook as he offers it back to her and unconsciously clutches it to her chest as she avoids eye contact again. He read it, and that knowledge makes her embarrassed, though she tries to keep the blush off her cheeks. Scuba shifts uncomfortably in her silence before standing. Blazer can tell without even looking that his smile is fake.

"Well, I'll see you at the session, yeah?" He sounds hesitant now, and Blazer curses herself for making it so damned _awkward_.

She nods. "Yeah. See you then."

He pauses before turning to walk back down the halls, Blazer staring after him long after he disappears around the corner. 

It occurs to her now that she should've probably cancelled the tutor session altogether, but it's too late for that now.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and Kudos are appreciated!


End file.
